Bottle cap



y 2, 1939- M. c. ATWOOD I 2,156,258

BOTTLE CAP Filed March 22, 1938 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented May 2,1939

'PATE OFFICE BOTTLE GAP I Morgan 0. Atwood, New Orleans, La.

Application March 22, 1938, Serial No. 197,486

1 Claim.

This invention relates to bottle'caps of the type having a disc top, a corrugated -flared skirt adapted to be crimped over the bead or swell in a bottle neck, and a sealing disc adapted to seal the 5 neck of the bottle gas tight.

Caps of this type are opened with a bottle opener and it has been proposed to equip the'caps with tearing tabs for eliminating the use of the bottle opener. In all proposed types of tearing tabs the tabs extend downwardly from the bottom oi the skirt and over the swell or bead in the neck of the bottle. Such tearing tabs have not come into general use, one reason being that in practically all bottling plants bottles must be handled at least once by hand from the conveyori to the cases, after the bottles are capped. There is a standard way of handling these bottles, that is, by grasping three bottles by the necks, between the fingers of each hand. Tearing tabs that project downward from the caps are found to injure the hands of the workmen seriously at the rate of speed they are compelled to work.

With this disadvantage in mind, an object of the present invention is to provide a cap of this type having a turned up rolled edge on one side extending outward slightly beyond the swell or head in the neck of the bottle and adapted to be pushed up by the operators thumb without injury to the thumb. thus eliminating in practice any injury to workmens hands in handilng the capped bottles.

In conventional caps of this type, to promote easy removal without the use of a bottle opener, it has been proposed to provide open slots in the skirt to weaken the cap so that the tearing tab can be effectively used. These slots permit gas escaping with consequent spoiling of the contents of the bottle.

With this disadvantage in mind the present in- 40 vention creases or scores the skirt at the ends of the rolled up edge of the cap, to sufliciently weaken the cap, while small V-notches are made at the bottom of the crease, extending about onethird of the way up the skirt of the cap. These V-notches make it very easy to push up the rolled edge extending around one-half the periphery of the skirt and break the cap along the scores and across the disc topto efiect easy removal.

Hitherto tearing tabs or tangs have been comparatively narrow and when pulled up, in practice, simply tear a narrow strip through the top leaving more than half of the cap on the bottle with two sharp ragged edges to injure the operators fingers when further eflort is made 66 to remove the cap. With this disadvantage in mind the present invention provides 8. rolled up edge extending from two diametrically opposite scores or V-notches in the skirt and gradually increasing in diameter from nothing at said notches to the center so that when thumb pressure is applied half of the cap must be forced up to an angle of about 45 degrees and when this is accomplished the cap willdrop off the bottle neck without manual attention.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bottle cap constructed in accordance with the invention, appliedtoa bottle.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the bottle cap shown in Figure 1. a

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of the bottle cap taken on the line 33 of Figure 2 and showing the cap in applied position. I

Figure 4 is a detail cross sectional view taken on the line4-4 of Figure 2 and showing the diameter of the rolled up edge near its maximum contour. I

Figure 5 is a detail cross sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 2 showing the diameter of the rolled up edge near one of its ends.

Figure 6 is a detail crosssectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 2 and showing one of the V-notches and scores. f V

1 Figure 7 is a side elevation of the capin the operation of being removed from the bottle neck by thumb pressure.

to bec'rimped over the head I l of the bottleneck,

and a sealing disc- [4 confined against the bottom face of the disc top H and adapted to seal the bottle liquid and gastlghtr l The wall of the skirt is provided with creases or scores i at diametrically opposite points, and an inverted v-notch it is formed at the bottom or thescore and extends about one-third the way up the skirt of the cap.

The edge of the skirt between the V-notches is provided with excess material which is rolled back upon itself to provide a thumb rest I? which gradually increases in diameter from its V- notches to the center. The rolled up edge extends out slightly beyond the swell or bead oi the bottle neck as best shown in Figure 3.

In operation the operator places his thumb against the rolled up edge l1 and pushes the same upwardly, this thumb pressure forcing one-half of the cap upwardly to an angle of about 45 degrees, as best shown in Figure 7, the V-notches and scores readily tearing during the initial part of the operation while continued thumb pressure forces the cap to drop oil the bottle neck. The rounded or rolled contour of the thumb rest I! prevents injury to the operator's thumb while pressure is being applied and it is found, in practice, that bottles capped with caps of this type can be handled by workmen expeditiously and without injury to the hands when transferring the same from the conveyor to the cases.

masses 4 v From the above description it is thought that the construction and operation of the invention will be fully understood without further explanation.

.What is claimed is:

A bottle can including a disc top, a corrugated skirt adapted to be crimped over the bead of a bottle neck, a sealing disc confined against the bottom face of the disc top, there being tearing scores formed at diametrically opposite points in the skirt and extending from the edge of the skirt upwardly approximately to the sealing disc, and a rolled up edge portion formed on one side only 0! the skirt and adapted to extend outwardly beyond the bead of the bottle neck. said rolled up edge portion increasing in width from nothing at said scores to about a maximum of twice the depth of the corrugations in the skirt at the center of the rolled up edge portion, said rolled up edge portion' forming a crescent shaped grip adapted to be manually grasped and pulled upward for severing the skirt at the scores to dislodge the cap from a bottle neck.

MORGAN C. ATWOOD. 

